Should you self-publish?

What you need to know about publishing options

This week I gathered (virtually) with a group of fiction writers, offering some guidance on self-publishing. I was delighted to be invited to teach Ginny Yttrup’s Fiction Writers Cohort this week. (By the way, if you’re writing fiction, you should know Ginny Yttrup—she’s got lots of experience and loves to share that wisdom with writers through her cohort or one-on-one coaching. Learn more on her website.)

After more than two decades in the publishing world, and having two dozen books published, I’m still amazed at how quickly this industry is changing. The options used to be either self-publishing or traditional royalty publishing. But these days, self-publishing is much easier, but also, fraught with a thousand variations. It’s opened up opportunities for authors, but also for companies that want to prey upon writers desperate to be published.

What is self-publishing?

As I’ve explained before, both here and on my blog, self-publishing is a path to publication in which the author takes on all of the expenses and responsibilities of publishing their own book in order to have editorial control and get a bigger share of the profits.

By way of comparison, a traditional, aka royalty, publisher, pays for the expenses of production (which includes editing, design, and printing), distribution, and often marketing. And they pay you, the author, as well, typically with an advance and then a share of sales (royalties).

In self-publishing, you take on those expenses. Because you are the publisher as well as the author.

What is hybrid publishing?

Where some writers lose the plot: hybrid publishing, or sometimes called vanity publishing. It’s essentially self-publishing, but you hire someone to do it for you. Which is not necessarily bad. But you should be aware.

If you are paying the publisher, you are self-publishing. Full stop. Many hybrid publishers provide a helpful service—but their revenue comes from authors paying them, not from selling books. Why does that matter? If you’ve already made money from the author, how motivated are you to market and sell books?

Self-publishers need to pay for certain things—editing, design, printing. Those are tasks that have value, and are not free. (This page on IngramSpark’s website has a good breakdown on costs)

But some companies over-charge for those production costs, (or charge market rates, but then provide sub-par services or none at all). Vanity publishers often require authors to buy a certain number of books, pay for an author website, a marketing plan, advertising, etc. And charge them thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars to do so.

Yes, you need to hire an editor. Sometimes, it’s helpful to hire a company that pulls together editors, designers, and printing, all in one place. But for every legit hybrid publisher out there, there are plenty of others who just want to take advantage of writers who dream of having their work published.

“We’re looking for writers!”

In our cohort conversation, one member asked about ads she’d seen on a certain television network (I won’t name them). The ads said they were looking for writers who wanted to get published.

This television network has a hybrid publishing imprint. Why? Because there is money to be made. Authors are willing to pay hybrid publishers to publish their books. With this particular company, authors pay for editing and design, which is fine, you’d pay for that if you did it yourself. But it appears that you might have to pay for more than that. The list of editorial and marketing services on their website doesn’t include prices.

Their site also mentions that you can purchase a 30-second commercial to advertise your book on their network. You can also pay to have a hard cover rather than paperback edition of your book.

There’s so much to watch out for in hybrid publishing. But I want to focus on two big things:

Distribution. Once your book is printed, you have to get it out into the world. Fortunately, you can create a FREE account on Kindle Direct Publishing, upload a manuscript and a cover, and publish your book on amazon for free. Or you can create a FREE account on IngramSpark.com and again, upload your cover and manuscript and publish your book for free.  

Now, to get to the stage where you have a manuscript and cover, you have to spend money on design and editing.

And, you do have to purchase is an ISBN. (International Standard Book Number) Many hybrid publishers offer to include this in your “publishing package,” which leads me to my second point.

ISBN. Here’s the thing: anyone can get an ISBN, which is a unique 13-digit number that identifies your unique book, and the publisher of the book. (You’ve seen them, along with a barcode, on every book you read.) In the U.S., the official seller of ISBNs is Bowker, through their website www.myidentifiers.com

Decide on a name for your publishing company (just make sure it’s not another company’s name), set up an account and purchase your ISBN’s. One costs $125, but 10 are $295 (yes, that means you save in bulk). Since you need a separate ISBN for each edition of each book, and they never expire, you should buy 10. You can also buy one for $85 from IngramSpark.

If you are self-publishing, YOU (or an entity you create) should be the publisher and hold the ISBN. The publisher has control of the book, including decisions on pricing, metadata, and whether the book stays in print or not. If you’re paying to get your book published, you are self-publishing, even if the company spins it differently. Should you buy your own ISBN? Unless you are being published by a traditional royalty publisher, yes.

If a hybrid publisher offers you an ISBN as part of your publishing package, but that ISBN is registered to them, you relinquish a lot a control to them. If you part ways with that publisher, you can’t take your book elsewhere. It’s an important question to ask.

Traditional royalty publishers also provide ISBNs. If you publish with a royalty publisher, you also cannot take your book to someone else to publish. You don’t get to decide if your book will stay in print. The difference is, with a traditional publisher, they are paying you. They have bought the rights to your book from you. With a hybrid publisher, you are paying them!

If you’re considering a hybrid publisher, ask a lot of questions. And be clear: you are self-publishing, and they are assisting you and offering services to help you get that done.

Look at their website. Are there punctuation, spelling or style errors? Do they list prices for their services, or does that get disclosed later in the process? Look at the books they’ve published. If they provide cover design services, look at what they’re displaying. Do the books look professional?

Many hybrid publishers charge $10,000 or several times that much to publish your book—and while some pay royalties, it takes a long time to recoup that initial investment. Also, some publishers offer “100 percent” royalties. Look at the fine print. That is not 100 percent of the cover price. It’s 100 percent of what’s left after printing and distribution costs. Which can, in part, be controlled by the publishing company. And: if they are giving you 100 percent of the proceeds from sales, how motivated are they to help you sell those books? (Answer: not at all. Because they’ve already made their money. From you.)

Traditional royalty publishers, by way of comparison, pay the author, and pay for all of the editing, design, and so on. They’re motivated to get your book to sell because that’s how they recoup their investment in you and your book.

Home improvement

By way of analogy, imagine you’re doing a remodeling project on your house. You have several options on how to get it done, and how much it will cost. First, you can do all the work yourself. That takes more time, but costs less, and depending on your skill level, quality may suffer.

Or, you can hire a few professionals but still manage the project yourself. Or, you can hire a general contractor to guide the process and find reputable subcontractors. Or in some cases, you can hire a company that will charge a lot of money, change the costs as the project goes, and yet, do a terrible job and not deliver what they promise. As in any industry, the buyer should beware.

What is assisted self-publishing?

As a publishing guide, I offer what is known as assisted self-publishing. In our analogy, I’m like a general contractor. I gather a team to get the book produced (i.e. edited and designed), then guide authors through the self-publishing process. I help them to create their own account on Kindle Direct Publishing or Ingram Spark. I show them how to create their own account on Bowker, and guide them through registration of their publishing company there. Not my publishing company, but the author’s.

Yes, I am paid for my time and expertise—because a big piece of self-publishing, which again, you can do yourself, is coordinating and managing the process of editing, design, and so on. It’s knowing what needs to be done, and when it needs to be done, and finding the right players to put it together.

In assisted self-publishing, the author gets paid directly from the bookseller (i.e. amazon or other online sellers). The author is the publisher, owns the ISBN, and has complete control over sales, pricing, and distribution.

Why do writers fork over tens of thousands of dollars to hybrid publishers? Because they dream of seeing their work in print. They believe being published, no matter how they get there, will somehow validate them. Or they’ll be discovered and become a bestselling author, overnight. (This rarely happens.)

Getting your book published is nice. But it doesn’t make you rich, (even if you score a deal with a traditional publisher) and it doesn’t make you happy.

But writing, on the other hand, brings its own joy. There is power in just writing our stories. And there is power in sharing them—which is what often drives us to seek publication. You can publish your work. Just be wise about the path you take.

Got questions about publishing? Want a free quote for assisted self-publishing of your book? Leave a comment below or stop by www.keriwyattkent.com